Pages

Thursday, June 28, 2012

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have a review post for you all. I was asked to review MASH's Nail Art Polish for Stamping. After being so impressed with their last set of stamping plates, I accepted the offer with no hesitation. I hope you all enjoy this post.

Since I am reviewing their black and white stamping polishes I thought it would be best to test their opacity ability on contrasting colors. I used Bettina Matte (white) on my ring and index fingers and Bettina Onix (black) on my pinky, middle, and thumb.

I chose an image from MASH-45 and began stamping. On the fingers I painted black, I used their white stamping polish. On the fingers I painted white, I used their black stamping polish.

You all know that my go-to stamping polishes for black and white designs are from Konad so that's what I will be comparing these to. The first thing I noticed is that the polish bottles were larger than Konad's bottles. MASH Nail Art Polish is .50 fl oz while Konad's is .42 fl oz. The next thing I noticed was that the consistency of these polishes were considerably thinner than Konad's. For me, this leaves issues with opacity as you can see in the pictures. However, it also means that I am not in a rushed frenzy to transfer the image to my nails because it doesn't dry as fast on the plate.

Upon completion of this review, I would say that the MASH Nail Art Polish for Stamping is a great alternative. These work well especially for those of you who have gave up on stamping just because you can't get it fast enough (trust me, I've been there, too!). The price is fantastic as well! These retail on MASH's website for $5.99 and shipping is FREE! Overall, I think these polishes are fantastic for anyone starting out with stamping. I would definitely recommend these to beginners and pro's alike. If you are interested in purchasing these stamping polishes, just click on this link. MASH also offers a great variety of accessories, tools, and nail care products so make sure to check out their website http://www.mashnails.com/. As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers
and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

~Jessica

**EDIT: I MUST add that these polishes clean up so much better and easier than Konad's. They do not stain and with a quick swipe of a q-tip dipped in nail polish remover or acetone it is GONE! That, my dears, is a HUGE plus!**

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I will be sharing a mani with you that I
never would have thought of doing. Today's theme for the Adventures In
Stamping group on Facebook is Goth. I would normally never gravitate to a
theme like this just because it isn't a genre I know much about. This
is one of the reasons joining a group like this is great. It allows you to push your creative boundaries and come up with ideas you normally wouldn't think of.

Like I mentioned above, I know nothing about Goth so I decided to ask my good ol' friend Google! As I was searching images of what Goth looks like I noticed there were a bunch with fairies in them. I decided that the photo above would be my inspiration image for the day.

My manicure began with a base of Milani's Smoothe Base Coat followed by two coats of OPI My Private Jet. This is the not-so-awesomely-holo version of this polish. I still like it very much, though. My Private Jet is a dark brown base with scattered holographic glitter throughout it. Application and formula was very nice and so was the dry time.

Next I used my Sally Hansen Color Quick pen in Purple Chrome along with Red Angel image plate RA-116 on my thumb, index, middle, and pinky fingers to stamp on a large rose image. I chose to only use about half of the rose and stamped it on the right edge of my nails.

Next I stamped on the skull which comes from MASH image plate MASH-29. I used Sally Hansen Color Quick pen in Gold Chrome for the skull. Then I stamped on the fairy which was from RA-113 and I used the SHCQ pen in Pink Chrome. I gave the fairy wings which came from RA-115. The small roses under the skull come from CH14 which is a Cheeky image plate. I used the Purple Chrome for those.

I am very much pleased with how this manicure came out. I think it's Goth with a bit of a girly touch. What do you think, did I nail this one? What kind of manicure would you do for a Goth theme? As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers
and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today is officially the first day of summer and it's Pink Wednesday, too! I have a lovely summery pink mani to share with you that also features something new. Yesterday my MASH nail stamping plates came in the mail and as soon as I went through all the plates I knew exactly what image I would be using for today's post.

My manicure began with a base of Milani Smoothe Base Coat followed by two coats of Zoya Tobey. Tobey can best be described as: "Very bright nearly-neon fuchsia-based candy pink creme. This fun shade
is so bright, you can't help but smile when looking at it." This color is part of Zoya's Classics collection and the application and formula (as you can probably guess) was flawless.

I wanted to glam Tobey up a bit so I decided to apply one coat of Zoya Starla over her. Starla can best be described as: "Vivid nearly-neon purple with strong pink tones accented by silver
microglitter. A universally flattering bright with a sparkly,
jelly-like finish." These two polishes paired up extremely well and the sparkles from the microglitter gave me exactly what I was looking for!

Next I got out my Konad Special Stamping Polish in white and my new MASH plates. I fell in love with this flowery full nail image that was on plate Mash-42. Once all of my nails were stamped, I topped this manicure off with Color Club's top coat.

Isn't this mani so pretty for the first day of summer? I really do love the colors I chose for this one as well as the image for the nail art. I am very impressed with the quality of the MASH stamping plates. They are incredibly inexpensive and are etched well. If you would like to check out the rest of the images on these plates you can visit MASH's website and purchase the plateshere. As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers
and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I am so excited to share this post with you all today. I have been wanting a black and white glitter polish foreverrr and my very good friend, Sahyly of LyLy Nails, was kind enough to gift me one that I absolutely adore! I intended to layer this beauty over a neon yellow, orange, and pink gradient. However, I could not for the life of me get this gradient combination to work for me. I haven't given up on it, I WILL conquer the neon gradient some day. But for now, I decided to go with a lovely neon base color that I think works very well with my black and white glitter.

I began my manicure with a base of Milani Smoothe Base Coat. For those of you that read my blog often, this might come as a surprise since I always use Essie Grow Faster as a base. I somehow lost my beloved Essie in the midst of organizing my space and getting ready for the arrival of our daughter. I must say, though, Milani's base coat is pretty amazing and really does smooth out any imperfections or ridges in your nails.

Next I applied 2 coats of Color Club's Age of Aquarius. Age of Aquarius is a beautiful neon turquoise polish. As with all neons, this one was very hard to photograph to show it's true color. It leans more green in person. Application and formula for this polish was nice and easy. It went on very smooth. This polish doesn't dry completely matte like most other neons. It's more of a satin finish. By that I mean it's not entirely matte nor is it glossy. It's right in the middle of those two.

I wanted to give some sparkle/shimmer to my base color. I chose Oh Baby! by Pure Ice for this. Oh Baby! is really a stunner. This beauty of a polish is a cream/clear base full of duochrome shimmer that fades from blue to green then pink to purple depending on the angle. I could not get it to flash the other colors as the sun was already going down when I took these photos but, trust me, this is one polish you should not pass up if you see it in stores!

Next I applied one coat of Dots N' Stripes. Dots N' Stripes was created by SparklesbyJulie and can be found in her shop on Etsy. Dots N' Stripes contains varying sizes of hexagonal and bar glitter that are black and white and are suspended in a clear base. This polish goes on really smooth, none of the bar glitter gave me any trouble and I didn't have to dab it on like I thought I would have. This baby is also three-free!

I love this manicure so much! It is simple but has so much dimension with the shimmer topcoat and the fun glitter! I cannot wait to try Dots N' Stripes over other polishes in my collection as I'm sure she will definitely be making a reappearance on my blog soon. What is your favorite black and white glitter out right now? Is this something you would try? What colors do you think this would look best layered over? I can't wait to read your suggestions! As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers
and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I would love for you to all check out my guest post over at Refined And Polished. KayJay's blog is awesome and I think you guys would really enjoy it so please give her a follow, too! =)

Thursday, June 7, 2012

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have something a little different for you. Usually, I accompany all of my posts with some form of nail art or layering. Today's polish color was just so pretty to me that I couldn't cover it up with anything. So I have some pretty swatch photos for you!

My mani began with a base of Essie Grow Faster followed by three coats of Zoya Lola. Lola is described as "Ultra-bright warm fuchsia-pink base with strong blue-violet duochrome
shimmer. Edgy, bright and eye-catching but still fresh and girly." Whoever comes up with these descriptions for Zoya always nails them right on the head!

This gorgeous color was part of a trio that I received with my GMA promotion pack that also included Tobey and Yummy. It took me three coats to reach full opacity with this beauty and the application and formula were fantastic. The duochrome shimmer is absolutely gorgeous in person. I can't stop staring at my nails and am absolutely certain this will be my next pedi color!

Isn't it lovely? This is such a pretty pink for summer. I cannot wait to get it on my toes! Do you have this color? What's your go-to pink for this season? As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers
and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Hello Lacquer Luvers! Today I have a pretty neat splatter to share with you all. This one is a drug-store splatter. Well, at least for me it is. I picked up a couple of the Spoiled polishes a while ago when they were on sale for $0.99 at CVS. I know that Bettina isn't a drug-store brand for most of you but here in Miami you can find it in some Walgreens and also a pharmacy called Navarro.

I began with a base of Essie Grow Faster followed by two coats of Tip Your Waitress. This is a neon pink polish, although in my pics it doesn't show how bright it really is. I LOVE this color! It's gorgeous and doesn't dry incredibly matte like most neons. The formula for this baby is perfection. I've heard horror stories about the brushes on these polishes. Mine are all fine. I actually quite like how wide they are, too. It makes application a breeze for me.

Once Tip Your Waitress dried (which was really fast, by the way) I began to splatter. I use small red straws from Dunkin Donuts for this but I'm sure just about any straw will do. To achieve this look, simply drop a few drops of polish onto paper and dip the end of the straw into it. On the undipped end of the straw blow short quick puffs of air which will blow the polish out and on to your nail. The colors I used were: Spoiled Kickin' The Habit (purple) & Bettina's Matte (white) & Aqua (blue).

I use the same straw during this entire manicure. I just snip the end off with a pair of scissors after each color I use. To finish this mani, I used one coat of Color Club's top coat.

I believe this is the third splatter mani I have showed you guys. I hope you aren't getting tired of them because I really do love doing it. They are so much fun and very easy to do. I love working with bright colors and this season I plan on doing a few more of these. As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers
and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Hello Lacquer Luvers! I know it's been a while since I have shared a post with you guys but I am back from being so busy with getting things together for Gabby, appointments & my son's Kindergarten graduation. I was also not feeling very good the past few days and I'm happy that I feel alot better now. I hope that you all are doing well and that you are excited for this week as I have a few planned mani's to share with you!

My manicure today began with a coat of Essie Grow Faster as my base. I then applied two coats of Zoya Wednesday. Wednesday is from Zoya's Summer 2012 Beach and Surf Collection and is described as: "Faded dirty medium turquoise with green undertone and an opaque cream
finish. A very stylish shade with a funky yet easy to wear vintage look." This beauty was gifted to me by my sweet friend, Lizzy, for my birthday. You all might know her as The Do It Yourself Lady. If you haven't already, definitely check out her blog as she has some great posts and is always sharing awesome deals and freebies!

I took the description of this polish as an inspiration for nail art. I wanted to create something vintage looking yet stylish and modern. To create this look, I used my Konad Special Stamping Polish in black and white along with BundleMonster image plate BM21. I think lace images always appear vintage but the colors I used keep it nice and fresh even though they are classic shades. I then used Scotch tape to create a french tip on my nails using Bettina's Matte (white) & Onix (black). I topped this mani off with one coat of Color Club's topcoat.

I am totally digging on this look. I like that I didn't stick with one color for nail art. I love love LOVE Zoya Wednesday on me. It's such a great color and I think it flatters my skin tone nicely. If you haven't seen the Zoya Beach & Surf Collection, you should definitely head on over to their site and check it out! The colors are simply gorgeous and absolute perfection for the season. I would love to know what you think of my mani today and which colors from this collection are your favs! As always, I hope you all liked this post my dear Lacquer Luvers
and I look forward to sharing my next post with you, xo!